The invention relates to an at least partially refrigerated shelf cabinet that is open towards the front and in which refrigeration of the goods compartment is effected by means of a cooling air curtain flowing through the at least partially perforated rear wall of the goods compartment into the goods compartment and/or by means of a cooling air curtain flowing along the goods compartment opening, the goods compartment thereof having one or more goods display shelves arranged therein which are designed such that at least a partial flow of the cooling air curtain is passed via the same into the region of the forward front of the goods display shelves, and with the goods display shelves having means for stabilizing at least a partial flow of the cooling air curtain flowing along the goods compartment opening.
The non-prepublished German patent application 103 36 672 reveals a cooling shelf cabinet according to the type concerned. By making reference thereto, the disclosure contents of said patent application in its entirety are incorporated in the disclosure contents of the present application.
Partially refrigerated shelf cabinets that are open towards the front—which in the following will be briefly referred to as refrigerated shelf cabinets—of the type concerned are widely known from the prior art. In accordance with the refrigeration configuration of the same, they serve for refrigerating a large variety of products both in the so-called plus temperature range and in the so-called minus temperature range. In doing so, the cooling air produced within the refrigerated shelf cabinet, which is necessary for refrigeration of the goods on display, is passed in undirectional manner into the goods compartment through the at least partially perforated back wall of the goods compartment, while the cooling air curtain flowing along the goods compartment opening provides for separation of the refrigerated goods compartment from the warmer surroundings (air).
The cooling air curtain flowing along the goods compartment opening is constituted by one air curtain only or—with corresponding higher technical expenditure—by two or more cooling air curtains flowing in parallel.
Furthermore, there are known refrigerated shelf cabinets of the type concerned, in which the goods compartment openings can be closed by means of folding and/or sliding doors. However, in comparison with refrigerated shelf cabinets without doors, such refrigerated shelf cabinets have the disadvantage that access to the goods on display therein is possible only after opening of a door. It has been found that the sales figures are higher with “open” refrigerated shelf cabinets than with “closed” refrigerated shelf cabinets.
In the most recent past, purchasers of refrigerated shelf cabinets of the type concerned demand an as uniform as possible distribution of the cooling air within the refrigerated shelf cabinet or the goods compartment. The temperature spread between cold and warm goods is to be no higher than 7.2 K with an average temperature of the goods of 3.3° C. at maximum. The temperature range of the goods is to be between 0 and 7.2° C. Furthermore, refrigerated shelf cabinets of the type concerned must be capable of refrigerating goods introduced from ambient temperature to a temperature in the range from 0 to 7.2° C. within a period of 16 hours at most, with the average temperature of the goods being allowed to be 3.3° C. at most.
It has turned out that these requirements cannot be fulfilled with conventional refrigerated shelf cabinets with a goods volume of more than 250 liters and with goods compartments that cannot be closed by means of doors and/or rolling night blinds.
It is the object of the invention to make available a refrigerated shelf cabinet of the type concerned, which is capable of fulfilling the afore-mentioned requirements.